18 comments:

Paul:Now that Dykstra has signed, what about those injury concerns? Was this a case of the team "playing chicken" to get a better deal?

If not, then how can the team accept investing $1.15 million in someone the team knows could have a potential hip problem, not to mention able to only play one position(and that fairly suspect)?

Fuson himself stated he thought Dykstra had Petco power, but only would hit .260 and needed a bounty of work in the field. Compounded with the hip, I guess I am just curious what caused the change in heart(a decrease in $300K doesn't seem like much of an incentive).

Paul,To change the topic somewhat, have you been watching the Olympics ball games at all? What are your thoughts on baseball being taken out of the Olympics? And while it'll never happen how cool would it be to have MLB players play each other for the gold. Just watching the NBA's Redeem team take on China and Spain was awesome from purely a fan perspective.

I love this team, but I'm sickened by the direction that it's taking. If you're going to build from within, fine. I understand that, it's a difficult time with the Moores' divorce, there's lots of uncertainty around the club, but why not pay a little for Mooneyham? If the plan is indeed to build this club up from the minors we should be stocking as much talent as possible. The payroll next year is going to be slashed and I'll be VERY surprised if I see Kevin Kouzmanoff, Khalil Greene, Trevor Hoffman and Brian Giles in Padres' uniforms next year. Somebody is going, there's not a ton of talent at AAA or AA, the guys at Lake Elsinore need at LEAST one more year, probably two, and there isn't a lot of pitching in the pipeline. What's the plan Paul? Please tell me you have a plan. . . For you and Sandy this a job; for the fans, this team is our first love. Please don't do us wrong.

Paul, it has been well-documented that Kipnis and Mooneyham were not signed. However, I can't find definitive word on the status of Kyle Thebeau. Was he signed? If not, was it a case of misreading what it would take to sign him, etc?

Paul:a question on Jody Gerut. I've read conflicting reports and there seems to be some confusion as to whether he is a FA after this year or if he is under Padres control if we offer him arbitration. Could you clarify, and if you are able to, could you talk about whether Gerut is in the plans for the next couple years.

According to Bob Costas it seems the reason baseball is no longer in the Olympics is precisely because MLB won't allow it's stars to play. Apparently the IOC feels without MLB level talent there's not enough support to justify its continuance.

Also if anyone saw the match between the US and China. I'm not sure that was a ballgame so much as a bloodmatch. You definitely can't say the athletes don't give it their all.

Laura, I'm obviously not PDP, but Towers has stated that Kouzmanoff is not going anywhere... As for Giles, Hoffman, and Greene, each them is so unique you cannot group them.

Giles is still a value. If the Padres can get something valuable they might take it, but if not they'll be happy to have him in 2009.

Hoffman is one of those rare icon-franchise players. He may or may not be here in 2010, but it will likely be his choice.

Greene is good because of his defense. He's bad because of his bat. Khalil has not progressed as a hitter. The problem for the Padres is that there are so few available options at SS (either as trade options or as free agents).

The Padres are never going to challenge the Dodgers for spending in the NL West but neiher are they going to have a $25mm payroll like the Marlins. But as we look at the AL East, the current order in the standings is as follows: 5th highest payroll, 2nd highest payroll, highest payroll, 3rd highest payroll, and 4th highest payroll... So we can't say that if the Padres spend more, they'll win more.

Paul,Thanks as always for your insights. I'm curious how much it makes your head hurt to read the "thoughts" so many people post in here. Is it more like "CC Sabathia and Prince Fielder are both standing on my skull" pain or "I should have stopped hitting myself between the eyes with a ball peen hammer after the fifth time" level?

I saw that Logan Forsythe played for AZ Padres yesterday. I was curious, have you guys considered moving him to catcher? I've heard from people that think he can make the transition into a very good catcher.